Lycaon (genus)
Genus of carnivores
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lycaon is a genus of canid which includes the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and the extinct species Lycaon sekowei and Lycaon magnus.
| Lycaon Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – present | |
|---|---|
| |
| African wild dogs | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Subfamily: | Caninae |
| Tribe: | Canini |
| Genus: | Lycaon Brookes, 1827 |
| Species | |
| |
Taxonomy
This hypercarnivorous and highly cursorial genus is distinguished by accessory cusps on the premolars. It branched from the wolflike canids lineage during the Plio-Pleistocene. Since then, Lycaon has become lighter and tetradactyl, but has remained hypercarnivorous. Lycaon sekowei is known from the early Pleistocene epoch of South Africa and was less cursorial.[1]
Some researchers consider the extinct Canis subgenus Xenocyon as ancestral to both Lycaon and Cuon.[2][3]: p149
Other researchers propose that the extinct Canis (Xenocyon) falconeri and Canis (Xenocyon) lycaonoides should be classified under genus Lycaon, to give the descent of three chronospecies: L. falconeri in the Late Pliocene of Eurasia → L. lycaonoides in the Early Pleistocene and the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene of Eurasia and Africa → L. pictus in the Middle–Late Pleistocene and today the extant African descendant.[4]
See also
- Lycaon of Arcadia, a figure from Greek mythology who was transformed into a wolf
